By Tom Kessler
Almost 90 percent of the car shoppers who visit Kelley Blue Book’s Web site say they are concerned about the future of our environment, company research shows. Among survey respondents, 80 percent agreed that individuals should make lifestyle changes to help reduce CO2 emissions. And 75 percent of KBB shoppers reported that they [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
When legislators cross party lines and governors publicly plead for water reform, you know the country’s water crunch has reached a new degree of direness.
And yet, some conservationists ask, who’s really listening?
In late July an Opinion column appeared in the Los Angeles Times and other California newspapers. In it, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, [...]

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By Shermakaye Bass
While some Americans insist on pampering thirsty lawns and water-greedy flora - and engage in other water-siphoning practices - innovative means of conservation are cropping up all over the United States, out of necessity or sheer eco-sense. Some can be easily applied by individuals; others require input, or even a policy change, [...]

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By John DeFore
An item in the New York Times last week served as a good wrap-up of recent developments on the LED front, finding places (beyond traffic lights) where light emitting diodes are getting a toehold as replacements for less energy-efficient lights.
But does it, in newspaper terms, “bury the lead”?

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By John DeFore
The phenomenal success of single-serving bottled water is, in the eyes of most environmentalists, a scourge. Yet consumers seem slow to unlearn the habit, so a water packaged in non-petroleum-containing bottles should be a step in the right direction — right?
Doubt was cast on that recently when the popular Consumerist blog ran a [...]

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By Julie Bonnin
If you’re in the market for a custom-built home, there really isn’t a reason not to build green. Who doesn’t want a smaller utility bill? Or to leave a reduced carbon footprint on your corner of planet Earth? FreeGreen, a web site with free green home designs, allows users to browse [...]

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By John DeFore

San Francisco residents recycle almost 70 percent of their total waste. Houston? Just over two and a half percent.
That’s according to an article in the trade journal Waste News that labels Houston the worst recycler among the nation’s thirty most populous cities. The ranking has sparked newspaper coverage lately, with accounts seeking [...]

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By Harriet Blake
Mainstream, affordable solar power is not just pie (or energy) in the sky. So say MIT researchers who have devised a process to store solar energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.

Photo: Donna Coveney
 
MIT professor Dan Nocera
Massachusetts Institute of Technology energy professor Dan Nocera and post-doctoral fellow Matthew Kanan have found a [...]

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By Catherine Girardeau
So you need to replace your mattress, and you want to do the green right thing, for your health and for the environment. You may be trying to reduce your overall carbon footprint, or perhaps to choose a product that’s better for your health. Ideally, you can do both.
Unfortunately, there is a plethora [...]

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The Alliance to Save Energy, a 30-year-old coalition of business, political, consumer and environmental leaders, today urged the U.S. Senate to adopt a bill that would grant or extend tax credits to consumers for energy-saving home improvements, while also potentially stimulating the economy.
The bill, The Jobs, Energy, Families & Disaster Relief Act of 2008, would [...]

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By John DeFore
“Critical mass” may not be the most comforting metaphor to use about coverage of radiation in kitchen countertops, but it’s hard to resist. After stories by such high-profile outlets as The New York Times and Associated Press, long-simmering concerns about granite counters have become sufficiently mainstream that Stephen Colbert can joke that, [...]

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By John DeFore

Even those among us who spend a fair deal of time daydreaming about living in a solar-powered home may stop short of actually shopping for the required equipment. You can’t just hop down to Home Depot and pick up a photovoltaic rig, after all, and we all know it’s expensive.
Happily, some pioneers [...]

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